Curious what you fine folks are driving to the trail head. I've lost a good friend and backpacking partner (moved out of state) and we would always take his truck to those more difficult to reach trailheads. My small compact car was recently demolished in an accident and so now I'm considering a new vehicle that would work a little better on those bumpy roads than my now dead elantra. I have been looking at mid sized SUV's specifically the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander, but I've noticed a lot of the SUV's don't seem to have much more clearance than sedans these days.

Jeff, that is true about the clearance. I drive a Honda CRV and it's built on a car chassis. I love how it handles and the space I have in it. I have had the thing for 7 years now with no issues. 177,000 miles on it and still chugging away

I recently (month ago) purchased a Tacoma (DC 4×4) that will be my new getting to the trailhead vehicle, I'm keeping my WRX but it was a little tough going on many of the unmaintained FS roads that I frequent. I had a 92 3/4 ton Chevy that would have been much more suitable, but the gas mileage was so poor (and most of the places I hike are 2+ hours away) that I drove the Impreza instead. The 92 has been traded off :)

Honda CRV
Trailheads and groceries. Great car for snow and occasional rough roads.

Ford F150
Infrequent trailheads, canoe trips, and hauling only at 19 mpg unloaded and with a tailwind. I am a Toyota man at heart, not wanting payments meant I was shopping with a domestic wallet.

What I really want is my CRV with a plug in hybrid engine. That would be awesome.

I was always a Subaru guy when they were cheap, reliable and bomber. My 86 GL wagon was perfect; 5sp, real 4wd with 4low, front wheel drive mileage when 4 was disengaged, cargo capacity, very capable in snow, and reasonable off road. It rusted to death before it's time at just under 200K

Perfect timing, I have been thinking this and was about to post and I saw this.

OK I'm in the same boat- wanting a vehicle to get to THs and stuff. I don't necessarily NEED a 4X4, but I dont want to have to turn around at logging roads or the water runoff bumps (or whatever those things are).

We have an Escape and I'd like something like that clearance-wise.

What I (with little car knowledge) want is a WRX but on Forester springs (which I've seen done on Suby forums) or some suspension lift just to get a few more inches.

My question- Is the Impreza the wrong platform? I was thinking WRX to get a few extra horses to turn the bigger wheels, but I have no idea what the gearing is like,,, in a WRX it may be all race gearing.

Basically I want the old Eagle 4X4 car from the 80's.

Impreza outback on Forester springs?

PS: I get the difference between AWD and 4X4 and I'm not dreaming of some Impreza rock crawler… I just want a small car that'll get up some sketch roads, not off trail or 4xin. If that will work, IDK Somebody just tell me…

"PS: I get the difference between AWD and 4X4 and I'm not dreaming of some Impreza rock crawler… I just want a small car that'll get up some sketch roads, not off trail or 4xin. If that will work, IDK Somebody just tell me…"

I believe you.

And do I assume you know to look for "lockable" AWD as well?

Because downhill on grease in old-style AWD will require a change of shorts.

I just drive the trail, to hell with walking.(just kidding). I did drive my Lexus SC 400 to the parking lot for Spooky/Peekaboo when I did a 80 mile loop hike. I was able to drive very slowly and straddle the ruts. I sure did hope it didn't rain though, as I would of been stuck till it dried out. lol Most anything that has a little clearance will work for most trial heads. If you want something a little more beefy the 4 runner is about the best. Far more reliable and longer lasting than jeeps. My landcruiser is really overkill and has been on the Rubicon, and most trails in the moab area, beef basin, the maze, but fuel milage sucks. On the plus side I do have an onboard hot water shower hooked up to a heat exchanger that gets heat from the engine cooling system. :)

Subaru has the new impreza with higher ground clearance thats suppose to get in the low 30's mpg. Its called the VX. Hopefully it comes with a different set of rims and more power. Now if they just made a diesel version for us in the states.

I don't believe Mike knocked over a cone. In Mike's picture he appears to be exiting a 180 degree left hander. Those two cones lying on their sides are I believe directional indicators placed on their sides on purpose to indicate the intended path of travel.

Back in the day we used a Red on Right and Yellow on left traffic cone set-up for auto-crossing. It really wreaked havoc with those of us who were color blind. L O L

@ Mike,

Man that picture brought back some memories from long, long ago!

For the sake of recovering from this thread drift, I drive a 1998 Toyota Tacoma PU with a 5 speed stick to the trail heads. There isn't a whole lot of ground clearance but then again I don't take it that far off road very often either.

is your 98 Tacoma a 2WD? in know the earlier gen Tacoma 4×4's have pretty good clearance, my 12 certainly does- also pretty decent approach/breakover/departure angles- besides the better mpg (still far from outstanding), the off road capability of the Tacoma is why I chose it over others

Well, the highlander I'm looking at (2008) gets 8" of clearance which isn't bad and it has decent gas mileage which will help me sell it to the wife. I'll be buying used though and it seems like almost all the used models around here are 2WD. How important is AWD/4WD for moderate dirt roads? I've been driving sedans all my life.